God of Berlin
of the Berlin clouds
and its sky
God of the Berlin wind
of the Berlin rain
which falls plumb straight
and its fog
God of the early dark
in November, of Sundays
and of empty streets
God of the blossoming
crocus beside Halensee
at February’s end
God of the late
Willmersdorf widows
(blue hair and silk)
survivors of bombardment
exhausted by the peace
in which they have to rest
God of the wedding cakes
at the end of the Ku’damm
of the biscuit newlyweds
and egg-white cherubs
God or Allah (as they call you)
of pitta breads
buttermilk and kebabs
God of the new Turkish quarters
their satellite dishes
the old Turks on benches
more there than here
– the new Jews of Kreuzberg
God of the Chinese women with tulips
only 2.50 for ten
God of mass consumption
(I spotted you on Stuttgarterplatz)
God of bargains
crockery cleavers saucepans
Chinese pots for Turkish coffee
blood pressure monitors knives shawls
and cigarette lighters
Lord Buddha and Shiva
of the Indian shops
in front of Zoologischer garten
God of Alexanderplatz
occupied by cranes
God of the Wall
which fell and didn’t fall
God of the great circle
the kitsch – in history
the history – in kitsch
God of Madonna and the child
who stuck up her poster
but will miss the concert
God of the mothers and
God of the new-born
Babies’ God
Baby-God

Tom Phillips is a writer based in Bristol, and is the author of several
pamphlets of poetry and the full-length collections Recreation Ground (Two
Rivers Press, 2012) and Unknown Translations (Scalino,2016). Plays include
Coastal Defences, 100 Miles North of Timbuktu and the solo show I Went To
Albania. He is an editor of Balkan Poetry Today and Raceme.

Georgi Gospodinov is a Bulgarian poet, writer and playwright. His four
poetry collections have all won national literary prizes. The first,
Lapidarium (1992), won the National Debut Prize. A selection of his poetry
was published in translation in A Balkan Exchange (Arc, 2007), edited by
W.N. Herbert.

Gospodinov became internationally known with his Natural Novel, which was
published in 21 languages, including English (Dalkey Archive Press, 2005).
And Other Stories (2001), a collection of short stories, came out in German,
French, English, and Italian, and was longlisted for the Frank O’Connor
Award. His second novel, Physics of Sorrow (2012), won the National Award
for Best Novel of the Year 2013 and the 2016 Jan Michalski Prize for
Literature.

New Boots – the Anthology!

A selection of 100 poems from the project is now available in book form from Smokestack (price £8.99) - go here to order.

"Why the devil I throw my money away for that which the blockheads wish?" (G.F. Handel)

Welcome poets, polemicists and the disbelieving masses

The 2015 General Election made manifest the great sea-change that had been occurring in UK politics over the last fifteen to twenty years. Previous certainties, like Labour’s Scottish hegemony, are no more. Older patterns, like Conservative dominance of England, reasserted themselves.

The idea of the UK as a single country has been replaced by a plurality of identities, some long known to the other countries and regions, others formulating themselves as time passes. For that reason, we thought it might be an interesting experiment to chart the responses of those unacknowledged legislators, the poets, over the first 100 days of the new dispensation.

We ended up publishing a poem a day for 138 days, each one responding to some aspect of the new unrealpolitik. We then set to editing a book of 100 poems in order to, as we thought then, conclude the project.

However, the results of the EU Referendum showed that the slow slew in British political identity toward disillusionment and division had reached a breaking point that made even more evident the contrasts already indicated by the Scottish referendum and the General Election. We felt we had to begin again...

Stay with us, and see what the hell happens next. Oh fuck, it's Trump.

Commissioning and Contributions

This site is maintained by self-appointed voluntary arts drones working on zero hours non-contracts. Therefore we simply can't process unsolicited work, and will have to proceed initially at least by invitations. We hope we've got enough sense to ask *you* for a contribution, but please don't be offended if we're so stupid, tired or disempowered that we haven't approached you yet.